pics from pampas jungle trip + article on Madidi Nat. Park

outlook of Rurre, main river, and mountains

Fearing that parenthood would greatly decrease my ability to continue adventuring (not that parenting isn't adventurous!), I (Adam) convinced Andy to bring his two older boys on a trip to the pampas near Rurrenabaque, on the edge of the magnificent Madidi National Park. The park itself protects land from the Amazon rainforest proper all the way up to the Andes mountains. We chose the budget-friendly pampas tour (insanely affordable for the value), instead of the actual rainforest, because you actually see more wildlife there.

orgullo en su pais

The tour was essentially water-based, centered around a humble river that cut through cattle-grazing land. Together with a German woman, a Swiss couple, and some Kiwis, we loaded our belongings into a long canoe with an outboard motor. We took our time getting to camp, stopping to look at wildlife along the way. Camp was a simple affair, with walkways and rustic cabins (shacks with blue tarps and not-quite-sealed mosquito nets) on stilts for when the pampas really gets flooded.

To avoid a lengthy commentary, I'll try to just list some of the things I remember. This was 1/2 a year ago already. All photos are credit Andy Baker - amazing photographer!

*an unsuccessful anaconda hunt. This means giving the gringos some wading boots and telling them to spread out throughout the swamp - yell when you see something. I was more interested in the new birds I saw...

*caiman nighttime hunt from the boat (shining lights at their eyes). Pepe was the camp croc, supposedly tame. I tried to keep my distance when they were tossing him meat.

trust me

*piraña fishing (we ate them for lunch)

*barefoot soccer and cold drinks with other guides and groups as the sun set over the pasture

*swimming with pink freshwater dolphins

you've got company

*howler monkeys waking us at 6 am sharp. The most other-worldly song I've ever heard. Turn up your speakers, close your eyes, and imagine you woke up to this, sleeping in the jungle, with no idea what it was:

a type of Capuchin monkey, much smaller than the Howler

*huge jarbiru stork nesting in a tree above our camp (these things are as tall as Becky + 8 ft wingspan)

*experiencing all of this 4- and 8-yr old boys. awesome!

The scariest moment was when one of our crew was rendered immobile/unresponsive by just 7 bites of tiny black ants. Crazy! Thankfully, he recovered.

It was quite the adventure, but we didn't hack deep into virgin rainforest or anything. Some people still do that... and it's not pretty. Here's an excerpt (warning: it's graphic) from Bugging Out - Into Madidid's Teeming Jungle: A Photographer's Journal by Joel Sartore (March 2000, National Geographic)

... Marcelo, our lead boat driver, tells a quick pig story as we pack up to leave.

We were hunting the chanchos (pigs) last year near the Rio Beni, not far from here. We saw a group of fifty. We killed Ten. This made them mad. They charged us. We ran and climbed trees. One of my friends didn't get high enough, and the chanchos pulled him down. We heard screams for a while, then waited to come down. When we found him, we found only pieces. Many pieces. We took the pieces of him to his parents' house. We were sad our friend had died such a terrible death."

Even the pigs can kill you here. A man Rosa Maria knows survived a pig attack but now has no butt. He didn't get quite high enough in the tree, and the pigs bit it all off...

...It's almost Christmas, and I'm more than ready to go home. I feel for the people here. Poverty abounds. Everything is worn out or broken. The kids in town swim in raw sewage. Rosa Maria points out that most of the world lives like this.

I know she's right. But I'm beat, and I just to sleep.
Now, if only the boro [live botfly maggot] in the back of my hand would do the same.

Editor's Note: Eight weeks after Sartore returned from a second trip to Bolivia, a wound on his lower right leg began to grow. He had contracted leishmaniasis -- caused by a flesh-eating parasite -- through the bite of a sand fly. The infection spread to his lymph system and created a hole in his leg the size of a silver dollar. The infection was eventually controlled by a combination of surgery and a 21-day intravenous treatment of an antimony compound. He'll know in ten years if he's fully cured.